Twenty years old and looking less, Stephanie is a student at Columbia, who's completely mismatched between mind and body. The body is a teenage hottie who would look right at home shaking pom-poms on the edge of a football game. The brain is 100% geek, who likes to hang out on the internet, tweets her activities, keeps a Livejournal, and spends her time playing on a plethora of MMO's. This combination of chic and geek makes it her driving goal to get through college, max out her characters online, and find New York's best cup of coffee. And somewhere in there, trying to find a social life in the whole mess.

History

Born October 10th, 1989, in Buffalo, New York, Stephanie's early life was little different from that of most children…she went outside and played with her friends, went to school in the day, came home to a warm and loving household at night, and had structures and rules to go with compassion and concern. In short, no troubling childhood issues, no buried dark secrets with her parents, nothing beyond the norm. The only difference was that all the children her age in her neighborhood were boys, which led to young Stephanie growing up a bit of a tomboy…her childhood games involved Pokemon rather than Princess Polly, baseball rather than Barbie, and tackle football rather than tea parties.

When she got to high school, things changed some. Puberty hit both boys and girls. Stephanie started to pick up curves, and boys, in turn, started becoming very aware of girls. It causes a complete disruption of her normal social dynamic. She couldn't just hang out with the boys anymore, like she used to. And she had no real experience hanging out with the girls…not to mention their concerns of clothes and makeup and the like were alien to Stephanie, and they were too busy giggling over the same boys that she wanted to hang out with.

Left with no viable social options with either the boys or the girls, Stephanie started staying in more. Her schoolwork had always been fairly easy for her, but the additional time to work on her homework quickly pushed her grades right up to the top of the charts. The increased time on the computer led to a natural exploration of it, and she started to find that she could have social interaction…of a sort…right through the computers themselves, through forums, and email, and online games.

Her parents were concerned, as the internet seemed to become Stephanie's all-consuming outlet. If she wasn't at school, sleeping, or eating, she was online. And yet, as she herself pointed out, her grades had never been better, and she was at the top of her school's honor roll, plus she wasn't running out to meet with online cyberstalkers…far to the contrary. She didn't want people to get to know the real her, because then they might react differently to her. Far better to be the faceless construct on the other side of the screen, where what people knew about her depended on what she presented herself as.

Stephanie graduated, her class valedictorian. Through high school, she'd had surprisingly few dates, and none of the "big social events"…there was no prom for her, for example. It wasn't that she wasn't asked by any number of boys…but they might as well be alien to her; she has no skill in interacting with boys as a girl. Her small social clique in high school were fellow geeks and outcasts, people where she could just be "one of the boys" rather than the token girl.

She made it to Columbia, complete with scholarship. And she'd only been there for a couple months before life decided to throw her a curve. Her parents car went off the side of the road while driving through the mountains. There was no foul play involved, at least not according to the reports…just one of those unhappy, fluke accidents. Old enough to be a legal adult, and with her college paid for, Stephanie's been making her way through college, trying not to focus on everything wrong with her life. She's gotten an apartment in the city, and she's pressing on with her studies, but she's been spending more and more time online, and it's getting harder and harder not to. In a desperate realization of the trend, she's started casting about, trying to find some human contact; some form of social network…but she's starting with a lack of skills and the deck stacked against her. Whether she'll succeed or not remains in the air.

Personality

Bright as a star, Stephanie's one of those people for whom intellectual issues always seemed…well, not an issue. Just things she could breeze through while barely needing to slow down. What trips her up is social issues. She really hasn't done much in the way of socializing ever since she hit high school, and she was one of the "weird kids" there, all into her tech, and her geeky and nerdy habits. It's not that she doesn't /want/ to relate to other people, it's that she really doesn't know /how/, and the situation tends to leave her a little awkward and flustered around people a lot of the time, unless it's in Geek Mode.

Geek mode, pretty much, involves the things that make you weird in high school. Stephanie can go on for great lengths about technology, science fiction, and alternative music. In those moments, when she can find a common social ground, she's actually pretty personable…her self-doubt dries up and is replaced with an easy charm and confidence. It's when she's outside that area that she can be all flustered and clueless (which, while cute, doesn't necessarily help her actually interact with anyone).

Conversely, the area where she's most flustered is anything remotely romantic. There's no confusion about her orientation; she thinks boys are cute just as much as any other girl might. But she hasn't got clue one about how to go about expressing that. Nor what to do when boys express that /she's/ cute. To quote another famous geek: "Well, when I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool or witty or at all. I can usually make a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away."

Timeline

Trying To Play The Hero —> Out braving the New York wintery weather, Stephanie gets accosted by a homeless guy who wants to get a little too grabby. Rescues are made by Tiago, who sweeps in to save the day and then runs off before he can be thanked. (The crowd and the gun might have had something to do with that.)

December 15th

Hero Worship —> Deciding that thanking the Dark Knight is the right thing to do, Stephanie's out canvassing the streets of New York looking for Tiago. But he doesn't get wind of it before Lena does, and she decides to investigate the situation. Awkwardness ensues, as do dinner invites.

December 17th

Awkwardness Abounds —> Stephanie goes on the dinner with Tiago and Lena to thank Tiago for his rescue. Lena proves to be a thoroughly mean person. The dinner goes awkwardly, to say the least.

December 19th

You're Paid To Do What Now? —> Early morning breakfast hunting turns surreal with Stephanie's diner stop turns out to be the same one Randall and Jingle Belle have stopped at. Geeky blonde meets drunken blonde, and the results are an overwhelming "Buh?".

December 20th

Recollections and Revelations —> Fate sees fit to dump Stephanie into the same bookstore that Randall is browsing. The two get into a discussion that ranges from college choices, to art, to ley lines, to dating, and oh, yeah, to a little YouTube video from REBEL. Agitated, she leaves in a hurry.

Relationships

Okay, so he might be a street criminal, but Stephanie doesn't care. As far as she's concerned, he's her hero, who swept in to save her from getting accosted by a homeless nutcase. She tried to thank him, but he was away in a flash before she could. Like Batman or something.

Berkeley Boy

She ran into him first while dealing with the surreality-on-feet that is Hallis when drunk. Then ran into him again at Enlightenment Books, where the two dealt with topics ranging from schools to ley lines to oh yeah, Evolved. So far, she thinks he's interesting, and he promised to interact with her as a mutual geek.

Jingle Belle

The first and only time Stephanie met Hallis, she showed up drunk as a skunk, in a "sexy Santa-ess" outfit, at the diner. So far, Stephanie's half-convinced that she's a very expensive Call Girl, and is totally at a loss for how to relate to the Walking Weirdness.

Lara Croft

Blame the handle on the PVC bodysuit. Stephanie met up with Lena when she was trying to track down and thank Tiago for saving her. Lena seems to be kind of snippy and mean to Stephanie, but she's willing to give things a try, for the sake of Doing The Right Thing. The jury's still out here. Lena proved to be a massive bitch at dinner. She's a jealous, mean-spirited witch, and has managed what's a pretty hard feat; getting Stephanie to not like you.

Quotes

"Look…I already told you I wasn't trying to put the moves on him. He's your boyfriend, and I wouldn't mess with that. I'm just being friendly, that's all. Maybe he just prefers nice to bitchy." — to Lena, Awkwardness Abounds

"Are the things you're buying legal? Cause…umm…I mean, showing up to work in a bikini in December, and getting a hundred thousand dollar bonus…I mean…" — to Jingle Belle, You're Paid To Do What Now?

Trivia

Stephanie's pride and joy is her laptop, which she splurged some of her inheritance on. It's an Alienware system with an 18.4" widescreen HDMI display, Blu-Ray player, quad-core processor, and more RAM and hard drive space than you can shake a stick at. It's almost never far from her.

She's a big gadget-type. Blu-Ray movies, computers, GPS in her car, and of course she has an iPhone. If it's techy and trendy, she's probably got one.

Stephanie is a big-time MMO player. She either plays or has played on World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes, Champions Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and is beta-testing Star Trek Online.

In yet another thing to set her off from her teenage female counterparts, Stephanie has a ridiculously fast metabolism. She's one of those girls who can eat like the boys…pack away a cheeseburger and fries…and never gain an ounce. And is completely oblivious to how lucky that makes her.

Despite the fact that her parents inheritance leaves her more than enough money that she'd /probably/ never have to work a day in her life if she invested wisely, Stephanie doesn't really live the lifestyle of the rich and famous. She has her indulgences in her techno-gadgets, but other than that, she rarely splurges on much of anything.

Fun Stuff

RP Hooks

College: Stephanie is a student at Columbia University. She hasn't declared a major yet (she's only in her second year, so she hasn't had to). Anyone with reason to be on the Columbia campus could easily end up having a scene with her.

Geek is Chic: Stephanie is a great big geek, and geeks tend to congregate. Especially since this is her first tries at starting up a social network. If your character is the sort to hang around comic book shops, computer stores, the local Gamestop or the like, there's a decent excuse for bumping into Stephanie.

It Is By Caffeine I Set My Mind In Motion: Stephanie is a great big caffeine addict, and she's also very finicky about her drug of choice. Even before deciding she needed to get out and be Among People, she was frequently parked in a coffee shop, with her laptop ready and cup of the elixir of life not far from her. As such, anyone who would be a coffee-shop frequenter, there's a hook.